


Bit by Bit

by shoutz



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe, Fluff, Fluff and Crack, Gay Disaster Shiro (Voltron), M/M, Meet-Cute, Mutual Pining, Pining, star-crossed lovers????, youtuber shiro and twitch streamer keith
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-03
Updated: 2020-01-03
Packaged: 2021-02-27 10:26:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,254
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22095595
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shoutz/pseuds/shoutz
Summary: He was a YouTuber.He was a Twitch streamer.Can I make it any more obvious?Fuck, he’s cute.“H-Hi.”Pathetic!“Hey! I’m Shiro!” Shiro reaches his hand out to shake. Why did he do that? He hadn’t shaken hands with any of the other VIPs. Keith grins wider, taking Shiro’s hand. He doesn’t balk at the metal against his skin, and it makes Shiro’s heart do a backflip in his chest.Keith chuckles. Hechuckles.Shiro is a goner.“I know.” Of course he knows. He bought tickets. “I’m Keith.”
Relationships: Keith/Shiro (Voltron)
Comments: 15
Kudos: 177
Collections: Sheith Big Bang 2019





	Bit by Bit

**Author's Note:**

> For Sheith Big Bang 2k19! Thank you to [Gracie](http://twitter.com/acoupleofgays) for letting me write about your art, and thanks to the inimitable incredible unstoppable [Alyssa](http://twitter.com/AlNiCa_) for beta-ing!!!

Keith doesn’t scare easily. He prides himself on this fact, actually. Part of his career has been shaped around it. He can watch horror movies and play horror games deep into the night and not lose a wink of sleep over it. It’s a mystery as to how he got to this point; when he was younger, he startled at just about anything. Halloweens with his father were a coin toss: going home crying after the first few houses, or not going out at all. Easily spooked was a vast understatement.

But now that he’s 24, his life has taken a drastic shift. Instead of his father’s job at the firestation, his bills are paid by playing video games on the internet. His humble but passionate following on Twitch has grown to a large enough size that he can live comfortably without a second or third job, something he had struggled with before his channel took off.

Today, he stares unflinchingly into the face of the most recent popular horror game for the sake of his audience. The game is unsettling, no doubt — one of the most unsettling he’s ever played — and it’s a struggle to keep the litany of commentary flowing, even for him.

He doesn’t startle when a face appears in the ominous hallway door and slams shut shortly after. He doesn’t get scared when that same face appears in the dark window leading outside the house, twitching unnaturally before it disappears. The only thing that makes him flinch is the little jingle that automatically plays when a viewer gifts his channel a number of new subscribers. He has to do a double-take when he reads — no, really, fifty lines of chat are now filled with gift subscription notifications.

“Woah— what? Wow, uh, thanks for the _fifty_ gift subs, oh my god. Thank you, uh…” he squints at his second monitor to read the name, “BlackAtlas, thank you so much, that’s way too much. I really appreciate it.” He grins at his camera as his chat speeds up, new subscribers using their new emotes and old subscribers welcoming them with enthusiasm. Viewers usually gift five or maybe ten if they feel particularly generous, but fifty is unprecedented. Keith doesn’t want for viewers or subscribers, and it’s never been about the numbers for him anyways, but he’s always been extremely grateful for the people who care enough to spend money. Their kindness is always appreciated, but this… It almost seems like too much. He searches for a followup message from BlackAtlas, but one doesn’t come up.

The rest of the stream finds him wandering through the repeating halls of the game, which grow more and more unsettling as time passes. He finds himself getting a little more noticeably scared, something that his chat seems to enjoy immensely. It takes him almost half an hour, but he finally gets to a part he hasn’t seen before—

_“AH!”_

His chair jolts and he yelps, whirling around and flailing an arm out only to smack into Pidge. His controller goes flying onto the floor with a clatter and his headphones follow suit. It takes him only a moment to realize, no, the monster from the game didn’t manifest in his office, it was just Pidge.

Pidge, who wastes no time in cackling uncontrollably, bent over at the waist and in hysterics.

“Oh my god, your _face!_ I can’t believe I actually got you, oh my god—” A huge furry mass of dog bounds into the room, excited by all the noise and commotion. Kosmo doesn’t hesitate to ram headfirst into Pidge, knocking her over as she continues to lose her shit. Keith, in the meantime, wills his heart rate back to normal, watching his loyal dog climb on top of his best friend as she struggles for breath.

“Get her, Kosmo! Teach her a lesson,” he says, angling his camera downwards so his viewers can see the brutal massacre. Keith grins as he watches chat scroll by, some keysmashing about the hilarity of him actually getting scared and flinching at Pidge while others yell about the game and beg for him to move his character before he dies.

The monster does indeed kill him after a few idle moments, spoiling their chances of getting the fabled secret ending of the game. Keith glances at the screen, but Pidge still hasn’t recovered from her own fit of laughter or Kosmo’s brutal attack.

“Well I guess that’s the end of that,” he forces out through a fit of giggles. “She did scare me, though, so according to the rules of our bet, I’ll be making a one thousand dollar donation to charity later tonight. I’ll post a poll to decide the organization on Twitter after the stream, so be on the lookout. We’ll also have to decide the punishment, but…” Keith glances to the floor, where Pidge lay trapped beneath Kosmo, still cackling at her successful scare.

“Thanks everyone for tuning in! We’ll probably be back on later tonight with some late night co-op and the punishment, if Pidge ever recovers. Thanks again everyone for the gift subs and the bit donations and everything, it really means a lot that you guys go out of your way to help me out.” He smiles at all the heart emotes flying past in chat, struggling to keep up but trying his best thank each of them by name regardless. He doesn’t see BlackAtlas’s name show up in the chat, but expresses his gratitude to them once again for their generous sub donation. 

“Keep an eye on my Twitter or Pidge’s, we’ll probably post a poll about what we’re gonna play tonight too. We’ll catch you guys later!” With a final wave at the camera, bent over as it’s still pointed at Pidge on the floor, he shuts the stream off.

If he had been paying more attention, he would have noticed his internet browser running in the background. More observant viewers looking for incriminating things to screenshot and post on Twitter only find two tabs open: his Twitch chat and a YouTube video titled _GARRISONGAMES TOUR MEET AND GREET!_

* * *

  
  
  


“Are you done?”

Shiro turns and smiles at Matt, quickly closing out of the now offline stream he had been watching. “Yeah! Is everything set up?” He sounds far more suspicious than he means to. Matt raises an eyebrow, looking between the screen and Shiro and the screen again with a look on his face that makes it clear Shiro isn’t fooling anyone.

“Yeah,” he says, drawing the syllable out longer than necessary. “I’m going to ask you one very important question. Answer truthfully, I will know if you are lying.”

_“No_ , I was not watching porn. Come on Matt, we’re at work!”

He smirks and raises his hands, a mimicked surrender. “I get it, I get it! Who am I to judge, y’know? To each his own,” he laughs as Shiro’s ears turn red with embarrassment. “Just wipe the browsing history before we have to use that computer again, I don’t want us to end up on Twitter for having porn in our autofill.”

“I wasn’t watching porn!” Matt laughs again. “I was watching a stream! It was research!” Matt laughs harder, walking over and plopping onto one of the beanbags on the floor of their makeshift dressing room. In reality, it’s the only room without equipment for recording or editing, a quiet place sequestered away in their studio where they can take a break if necessary. They have a shoot scheduled in half an hour to finish playing their latest visual novel series — the one about dads that Shiro had insisted they try out — but Matt tends to get impatient when there’s too much downtime.

“Oh? And what were you _researching?"_

Shiro rolls his eyes. “That new horror game. The one with the secret ending?”

“Is it worth playing? I haven’t seen much about it,” he says, scrolling through his phone idly. Shiro takes the change in subject as a small victory.

“It’s supposed to be super scary, so I’d say yeah. I only caught the end of his stream, so I don’t know much about it, but I think we should play it sometime,” Shiro lies. He watched nearly the whole stream, of course, but Matt doesn’t need to know he spoiled the game for himself. It’s not like he _won’t_ get scared just because he’s seen it once already. The game was terrifying; it’s a wonder the guy wasn’t jumping at every corner. But, of course, Keith rarely ever gets scared at anything, despite his friend spooking him at the end. While it wasn’t the first time he had gotten surprised by Pidge on stream, he seemed a little more spooked than usual. It was…cute.

_Cute?_ Really? Shiro mentally shakes himself out of it. 

“Sounds good, maybe we can get it and record later tonight. Maximum scare. What’s it on?”

They chat idly until work beckons to them, and they start filming. They knock out their first run of the visual novel and spend the next half hour deciding who to romance during the next. Shiro had picked the bad boy (bad dad) Robert their first time, and Matt now insists on romancing Craig because he looks so much like Shiro. They don’t make it very far into the new run before they break for lunch.

Though Shiro thinks he’s done a fairly good job of staying focused, he can’t help but let his mind wander to thoughts of Keith. Would he like this game? What choices would he make here? Would he have romanced Robert too, or would he have gone for Craig? He almost finds himself annoyed at how much the streamer takes up his thoughts. It was only a few months ago when he found red_k, one of the only people streaming an older game that was notorious for being fairly challenging.

Of course, it hadn’t been anything of the sort while he was playing it. He had dodged monsters and swung his weapons with practiced ease, fluid to the point where watching it felt…satisfying. Mesmerizing. It certainly didn’t help anything that he was one of the most attractive men to ever grace his computer monitor: dark hair, soft lips, cheekbones cut from the same diamonds as his jawline and neck. But none of that compared to his eyes, piercing and deep and the most intense shade of blue he’s ever seen. They almost looked violet when the screen flashed a certain way.

He blinks, scrolls past another cooking video that shows up on his timeline. He barely notices it at all, thoughts fully immersed in Keith.

_What? No. Come on, Shiro. You’re better than this._ He has to blink a few more times to fully pull himself from his thoughts. God, he hasn’t had a crush this pathetic since grade school.

Well. It’s not a crush. Shiro just… _appreciates_ Keith. As a fellow content creator.

He also appreciates the workout selfie that pops up on his timeline, courtesy of @red_k himself.

His skin glows like he’s wearing the world’s best highlight instead of a sheen of sweat, hair perfectly tousled despite most of it being tied back or tucked behind his ears. A deep flush colors his cheeks, or maybe it’s just a filter, though he doubts Keith would care enough to use one at all. Either way, it makes Shiro’s mouth dry.

Warmth blooms in his chest when his lizard brain finally decides to take in the rest of the photo. Fur sticks to his skin where Kosmo is pressed up against his shoulder, mouth open and still panting after their run. The smile on Keith’s face could outshine the sun if it wanted to. The warmth from Shiro’s chest spreads to his cheeks and ears.

He puts his phone to sleep before he can get to fantasizing about working out with Keith some day, maybe spotting him at the gym as a covert way to see if Keith could lift Shiro’s body weight—

_No._ God. Come on.

Shiro tries not to sulk as he bites into his veggie wrap, sorely wishing it was something with less green and more grease. His gaze wanders over to his calendar, where the rest of the day is blocked off by their live show rehearsal. In two days. Anxiety finds its merry way down into his stomach at the thought: their first tour, their first time out meeting fans together, their first departure from the norm… His rational brain knows it’ll be fine, and that if it’s not then it’ll at least make for a good story, but every other part of him struggles with the notion that this could be anything but a disaster.

_Deep breaths._ They’ve been rehearsing for weeks now. It’s really nothing to worry about. They have each other’s backs, and with Matt as picky as he is about the content they put out, Shiro’s sure he wouldn’t have suggested this unless it was a guaranteed hit for them.

_And, maybe…_

“You ready? They’ve got half the warehouse cleared out so we can rehearse,” Matt says, sticking his head into the room. Shiro nods and shoves the rest of his wrap into his mouth with as much grace as he can muster, before getting up and joining him.

It’ll be a long two days, but Shiro hopes it’ll be worth it in the end.

* * *

  
  
  


Two days come and go, but the anxiety of performing for the first time ever in front of a sold-out crowd has done nothing but escalate. A lack of appetite and worst-case scenarios plague Shiro, have him running through the stage plan over and over in his mind while they wait for the VIP portion to start.

It had been Matt’s idea, despite Shiro’s hesitance. He doesn’t quite enjoy the idea of making their fans pay extra to meet them and get a picture, but Matt assured him they would do plenty of interacting with those who didn’t pay extra to make up for it. Between the signed merch at the table, audience participation, and running through the line to shake hands before the show starts, there’s enough interaction with the rest to soothe his guilt by a fraction.

But when he sees the line of VIPs being ushered into the venue and towards the photo backdrop they set up, he can’t quite shake the rise in his heart rate.

“I thought the VIP tickets were supposed to be limited! There’s so many people out there,” Shiro whisper-yells once he darts back to the greenroom and out of sight.

“It was limited to fifty, I think.” Matt doesn’t even look up from whatever he’s doing on his laptop, seemingly nonplussed by the number.

“Fifty?!”

Matt smirks. “If fifty people lined up to see us freaks you out, just wait until all the seats are filled.”

Shiro collapses not un-dramatically onto one of the beanbag chairs they brought with them to the venue. “I’m going to die.”

“You shouldn’t worry about it so much,” Lotor pipes up from his seat on the couch. He, too, sounds unaffected, but he also doesn’t have to perform on stage in front of all those people in less than an hour. “Anxiety will give you wrinkles.”

Shiro looks up and levels Lotor with a deadpan stare. He doesn’t deign to look up from his phone.

“Have _you_ ever performed in front of a crowd like this?”

Lotor shrugs. “Not my job.”

Shiro throws a pillow at him, which bounces off his head and musses his perfectly styled hair. He finally looks up, frowning, but he’s not one to back down from a challenge. “Really? Matt, tell him to stop.”

Before he has the chance to throw a pillow of his own, three knocks ring against the door and their manager Allura’s voice follows soon after. “Alright boys, everyone’s ready and waiting.”

Matt shuts his laptop and holds his hand out towards Shiro. “We got this, alright? Just don’t say anything too stupid, and we’ll do fine.”

Shiro takes his hand with a sigh, and resigns himself to his fate.

The cheers start before they even enter the area, seemingly excited by the appearance of their manager alone, the mere promise of their existence. It grows by at least double once the two of them are visible. Most everyone is lined up, in groups of either one or two, waving excitedly as the men of the hour finally appear. Shiro smiles and waves alongside Matt as they approach, trying to ignore the shaking in his knees and the one palm that can sweat working overtime for the other.

“Hey everyone! Thanks so much for coming out tonight, we really appreciate you guys taking the time to come see us. This is our first real live show, so it means the world to get to see you all in person!” A rousing cheer follows Shiro’s greeting. He keeps his breathing under control, mostly. It’s still fifty people, all lined up with the hopes of a picture and a hug from the two of them, but he can do this. He’s not _that_ much of a disaster.

Right?

They quiet down, and Matt starts outlining the plan. The individual meetings are first, coupled with the pictures. Allura has her own camera for the occasion, but people are free to use their own instead if they’d like. After everyone has their chance with Matt and Shiro, they’ll get on stage and answer a few questions and chat with the audience.

Another cheer greets them once Matt finishes his speech. Allura leads the two of them over to the backdrop, then brings the line to start the hugs and pictures.

One by one, excited fans of varying ages (and in some cases, their parents) all line up for their chance to meet Matt and Shiro. Outside of a few lingering glances at Shiro’s prosthetic and some overly enthusiastic teens, the line files through without incident. Their energy keeps Shiro in light spirits; seeing so many people so excited to meet the two of them does wonders to quell his anxiety and imposter syndrome. Taking time for them all, learning their names and talking to each of them personally, helps him steel his resolve to give them all the best show he can.

That is, until he sees the last person in line.

The second to last in line, though, is someone who rivals Shiro in size; thus far most have been much shorter in stature than Shiro, so being next to someone at almost his eye level is a new experience. Shiro wishes he had the grace to acknowledge it and give him the attention he paid for, but his eyes seem to be drawn magnetically to the person behind him in line, the last one to get a picture with them.

“Hey! Thanks so much for coming! What’s your name?” Matt says, picking up the slack. Shiro tries to blink the stars out of his eyes as the guy walks up with a greeting.

“Thanks for being here, man, I’m Hunk,” he says. Matt says something that has Hunk laughing response; Shiro might have laughed too, if he had half a mind to pay attention to what they were saying.

The last person in line, standing with his arms crossed over his chest, hip jutted out to the side, is the most handsome man Shiro has laid his eyes upon. It’s not the first time he’s had the opportunity to appreciate his silky black hair or his well-sculpted facial features, but usually he only sees them through his computer screen. Never in real life.

The little facecam in the corner of his stream doesn’t do him any justice.

“Eyes over here, Shiro,” Allura says, waving her hand. Shiro fights a blush and smiles at the camera, trying to ignore his racing heart. Keith, _the_ red_k, actually came to their live show? To see Shiro? He didn’t even know Keith was a fan, much less that he lived close enough to come to their show. Does he know that Shiro follows him so closely? Does he know—

Hunk walks away, waving to them and laughing at whatever he had said moments before. Shiro hadn’t been paying attention. How could he? His mind is racing with thoughts of—

“Hey there,” Keith says, walking forward with a hand raised in a wave. He has the cutest lopsided grin, so blinding now that there’s no screen to dull the resolution. He’s really here. How is he really here? This has to be a dream—

Matt jostles Shiro out of his stupor with an elbow to his rib cage. He feels the blush worsen, spreading heat across his cheeks and scar tissue.

_Fuck, he’s cute_. 

“H-Hi.” _Pathetic!_ “Hey! I’m Shiro!” Shiro reaches his hand out to shake. Why did he do that? He hadn’t shaken hands with any of the other VIPs. Keith grins wider, taking Shiro’s hand. He doesn’t balk at the metal against his skin, and it makes Shiro’s heart do a backflip in his chest.

Keith chuckles. He _chuckles_. Shiro is a goner.

“I know.” Of course he knows. He bought tickets. “I’m Keith.”

Shiro doesn’t know if it’s his imagination, but Keith hesitates in letting go of his hand as he keeps speaking. “I’m a big fan of your channel. Your _Amnesia_ series actually got me into gaming.” Shiro’s jaw would have dropped if he had less control over himself. They played _Amnesia_ so long ago, the first series he and Matt ever did. He’s been watching _that_ long?

“Wow,” Shiro says, for lack of something more intelligent. His brain makes a noise similar to a dial-up tone, his hand still grasped in Keith’s. Matt says nothing, content to watch Shiro flounder. “That’s a long time.”

Keith nods and looks away sheepishly, free hand reaching up to muss through the back of his hair. He’s…blushing? The light color dusting his cheeks is more than a trick of the light, made even more stunning by the grin on that quirks his lips.

Shiro is absolutely speechless.

“Well come on, get cozy,” Matt says after an excruciating pause and finally, mercifully, waves Keith over between them for the picture. He lets go of Shiro’s hand in favor of wrapping an arm around his waist. Shiro can’t help but notice he looms almost a head taller than Keith, arm easily curling behind his back. With the other arm wrapped around Keith’s shoulders now he can feel the warmth coming from his body, comforting like a hearth in a mountain home, bringing heat to parts of him that have long since been cold. Shiro cherishes the few seconds they stay pressed together for the photo, and the smile he beams towards the camera is the furthest thing from forced.

The moment is over too soon. Keith steps away from Shiro, but his warmth lingers, reminding him how right it felt to be so close to Keith. Taking a few steps backwards, Keith waves at the two of them, before turning and walking towards the rest of the VIP group chatting excitedly by the stage.

“Need a minute?” Matt’s voice snaps Shiro out of his reverie. One glance is all it takes; the sly grin his best friend levels could dismantle the whole universe if left to its own devices. It’s already in the process of dismantling Shiro’s pink cheeks and doe eyes.

With a shake of his head, Shiro tries to snap himself out of it. “I’m fine! It’s fine!” he says, trying not to sound like he’s floundering as much as he really is.

His voice cracks. It’s not cute.

Allura gestures them both to the stage with a sweeping motion, in front of the fraction of tonight’s crowd huddled in front of it. Chatting nervously, casting glances back at the two of them. Keith is speaking with someone out of view, arms crossed over his chest. Still smiling.

Matt gestures towards the stage. “After you!”

Shiro takes a deep breath, straightens his shoulders, clears his throat. “Let’s go.”

  
  


* * *

Keith at least has the grace to wait until the end of the Q&A session, when Shiro is safely out of sight and earshot, to have his breakdown.

“Hunk. Hunk.” He’s been sitting in his seat listening to him for the past five minutes now, bless his heart. Keith’s litany has been a metronome bouncing back and forth between intelligible speech and nonsensical rambling about his _arms_ and his _smile_ and how _he didn’t shake anyone else’s hand_ and _he looks even more ripped in person I bet he could bench press me_ —

Once Matt and Shiro had gone back to get ready for the show, the VIPs made it to their seats and a slow trickle of excited fans started pouring into the venue to join them. Keith has done a remarkable job at keeping his voice down, and Hunk has done a remarkable job at letting this episode run its course before any attempts at interacting.

“Hunk."

“Keith.”

“I’m gonna die.”

“You’re not gonna die.”

“I can’t believe this. Hunk. He was _so big_. Did you see him? Did you see me?” His thoughts make their way out of his mouth one by one, the nervous energy finally fading into something a sane person can understand.

Hunk looks up from his phone, leveling Keith with the look of a parent who’s absolutely tired of hearing their toddler ask a million unanswerable questions about everything and nothing.

“Unfortunately.”

Keith straightens the slouch that almost has him on the floor, sitting in his seat like a normal human once more. People have been steadily making their way to their seats, filling the auditorium one excited fan at a time. It’s a humbling experience; Keith comes to find he’s not the only excited fan who’s happy to see his favorite content creators succeeding. He is, perhaps, the one among them who’s been following GarrisonGames the longest, but being in the presence of a sold-out crowd in one of California’s most popular concert halls has Keith’s heart swelling with pride regardless.

“Okay. Okay. I’m sorry. I think I’m done being annoying.”

Hunk smirks. “Promise?”

They chat idly while the venue fills. With his little episode behind him, Keith can actually hold a conversation, and Hunk seems to be relieved. The two had met several years ago and bonded over watching Garrison Games, so it feels like coming full circle to be here with him in person.

Almost thirty minutes later, the lights dim and the venue fills with applause and cheering. Two spotlights shine on the stage, uninhabited at present, but the audience knows what they promise. They are the only things on the stage for a few anticipatory moments, and the crowd begins chanting in the meantime: _GG! GG!_ Not much time passes before two figures walk out from behind the stage, and the chants crescendo into uproarious applause.

Shiro and Matt are all smiles and waves as they make their way to their spotlights, squinting out at the crowd. Keith’s cheeks start to ache with the strain of smiling so much. The venue is large, with a balcony of seating above the main crowd, but Keith is close enough to the stage that he can see the microphones clipped to their shirts. Not quite the front row, but it’s enough.

For Keith, anything is enough, as long as he gets to see Shiro.

They wait a few moments for the cheering to die down, but it doesn’t. People give them something like a standing ovation, which is bizarre considering the show hasn’t even started yet, but Keith shares in their excitement and stands as well. He can see a blush dusting Shiro’s cheeks as he laughs, uncomfortable with being the center of all this attention.

“Wow! Hey guys!” Shiro says, and it invites another peal of applause and cheering from the crowd.

Matt laughs, squinting out at the crowd and trying to block the glare on his glasses. “You guys are insane! Thanks so much for coming to see us!” Another round of applause. The lights on stage change slightly, and the audience sits down.

“It means so much that so many of you came out to see us tonight. From the bottom of our hearts, we really really appreciate it,” Shiro says, beaming from ear to ear. Keith can’t help but do the same.

After they introduce themselves, something that seems redundant considering the audience is comprised of adoring fans, the show begins in earnest. They start with a few rounds of _1-2 Switch_ , playing each other in various minigames and keeping the crowd laughing and cheering for their favorite to win. They then pass the controllers off to some lucky members of the audience, letting fans have a turn playing against the winner of the previous round, which happens to be Matt until he’s overthrown by a father who volunteered to come up and help his daughter.

Keith finds himself only slightly envious of the lucky few chosen to go on stage. While it would be a dream to go up, he knows he was lucky enough to get to meet them before the show.

But that doesn’t change the fact that he really, _really_ wants to be chosen.

Afterwards, they transition into a story time format while someone in the back sets up another game. Matt tells the story of the infamous Macaroni Incident from when the two of them had been roommates in college, and in retaliation Shiro weaves the tale of Matt’s first (and last) attempt at DIY.

Overall, Keith is just happy to be able to see Shiro in person instead of through a computer screen. He’s even more gorgeous than Keith could have ever dreamed, six-foot-something of well-sculpted muscle and pure joy and an almost-too-tight henley. Keith has no doubt it’ll haunt his dreams for the next month, being able to stand so _close_ to him. His forearm had nearly spanned the width of his waist in its entirety. And Keith got to shake his hand for so long… It had been the cold rigidity of his prosthetic, but the gesture was there nonetheless. Keith knows that if he was less self-aware, he’d tell himself they held hands.

_Pathetic_. Keith shakes himself out of it in time for them to transition into the next game.

The _Smash Ultimate_ character selection icons appear on the projected screen behind them. Keith sits up straighter; fighting games are his specialty, his hidden talent, enough so that the only times he’s lost were to Pidge while he was drunk or purposely throwing the game. With all the audience participation in the last game, it’s easy for Keith to get his hopes up, but he keeps his expectations in check.

The first match is close, Matt’s Banjo & Kazooie versus Shiro’s Rosalina & Luma, but Shiro just barely wins. Matt grins, strangely happy for someone who just lost, and then calls out the next seat number on their list to come up and play against Shiro.

Keith looks around. Glances at the underside of his chair. There’s a pause.

It’s _him_.

Hunk laughs and jostles Keith’s shoulder, urging him up and onto the stage. “It’s your time now, my man,” he hears through the mantra of _ohmygodohmygodohmygod_ repeating through his head. Finally he stands to the cheers of the crowd, and makes his way onto the stage.

Shiro has a bewildered look on his face, but Keith just grins and waves at him. Matt approaches him with a microphone and asks for his name before Shiro can realize his mouth is hanging open and close it.

“I’m Keith,” he says into the microphone, still watching Shiro.

“Ready to play, Keith?” Matt asks. If Keith didn’t know better, he’d think Matt’s smile just barely bordered on mischievous.

He nods, and they begin.

Keith plays mostly sword users, but chooses Zero Suit Samus once he sees Shiro pick Link. It’s hard, and Shiro’s doing his best to distract and joke around to throw Keith off, but Keith wins after an intense last stock. He stands and shakes Shiro’s hand a second time, grinning as the crowd cheers.

“Good game,” Keith says, quiet enough that only Shiro hears it. Keith could swear he sees the pink on Shiro’s cheeks deepen under the bright stage lights.

“You too!” Shiro returns between nervous laughter, still shaking his hand. He seems to come to his senses and relinquishes his hand before they have a repeat incident of the never-ending handshake, on stage for the world to see and tweet about later.

Matt picks up the controller and selects Kirby, so Keith decides to bring out his Cloud and show off a little bit. A few minutes of Matt floating above the stage and avoiding Keith’s sword later, Shiro sneaks up behind Matt and covers his eyes. He flails and tries to move so he can see, but in the process he floats a little too low and too close to the edge. It’s nothing for Keith to spike him down off the map. Cloud’s picture comes up on the victory screen and the audience cheers, while Matt and Shiro get into a scuffle. Keith stands and waves at the crowd sheepishly; he’s the first one to beat both of them back-to-back in the audience participation portion, even if there was a tiny bit of cheating, and the applause is immense.

With one last smile and wave at a blushing Shiro, Keith returns to his seat.

The matches took long enough that their games end up being the last they play. They wrap up the show with a few final thank-yous and shout outs, and exit the stage with a final farewell, and it’s over.

Keith spends most of the ride home in a haze, thoughts rapidly darting between the feeling of Shiro’s hand around his shoulders to the way his mouth dropped when he saw Keith get on the stage to the two (two!) lingering handshakes they shared throughout the course of the night. He maintains composure enough to talk to Hunk like a normal human while he drives the long hour home, but Keith is truly stunned speechless by how perfect the night was.

They make it home later than expected, and Keith is far too exhausted to try and stream even though it’s his usual time. Pidge isn’t home either, so Keith sends out a tweet apologizing for the lack of stream and a promise to make it up to them tomorrow with a game of their choice, and a poll to choose said game.

After a shower and a text from Pidge telling him not to wait up for her, he treats himself to a face mask and elects to play games in bed and think about Shiro’s dazzling smile until sleep takes him.

* * *

  
  
  


shiro’s workout routine @garrisongaymers

**“oh my god so um i’m at the GG meet and greet and WHOMST do i see but red_k in line too???? is this real??? would it be weird if i asked for a picture LMAO”**

5:21 pm 12 Jun 2019 Twitter for iPhone

baby in charge @AlNiCa_

**“Seeing this red_k being a GG fan stuff has me like… Wouldn’t Keith and Shiro be perfect for each other??? 🤔🤔🤔”**

6:00 pm 12 Jun 2019 Twitter for Android

Shiro pls step on me @sorrymom

**“Oh my god guys I think I see him in the crowd??? He’s really close to the front one of my mutuals is right behind him oh my god”**

**[attached: blurry image of a man with black hair sitting next to a very large man]**

6:47 pm 12 Jun 2019 Twitter for iPhone

GG LIVE!!! @ggezwp

**“OH MY GOD KEITH GOT PICKED FOR SMASH THIS IS NOT A DRILL”**

7:28 pm 12 Jun 2019 Twitter for iPhone

matt holt please interact @beezer_ebooks

**“YOU GUYS!!!!!!”**

**[attached: image of Keith walking up to the stage]**

7:29 pm 12 Jun 2019 Twitter for Android

matt + lotor = motor @dontboomeimright

**“LOOK AT HIS FACE I CAN’T”**

**[attached: image of Shiro, jaw hanging open as he watches Keith approach the stage]**

7:29 pm 12 Jun 2019 Twitter for Android

KOSMO SQUAD @weouthere101010011

**“that’s love, babes”**

**[attached: several images of Shiro watching Keith approach the stage, covered in heart stickers and sparkling pink filters]**

7:41 pm 12 Jun 2019 Twitter web app

shiro loving hours owo @gggivesmelife

**“i didn’t know who red_k was before but now i’m in LOVE shiro has good taste”**

7:44 pm 12 Jun 2019 Twitter web app

SHIRO AND KEITH @ninebiscuits

**“if i didn’t ship it before i sure as hell ship it now, they got so competitive it was ADORABLE”**

**[attached: shaky video of Shiro and Keith shoving at each other’s controllers; crowd laughing and cheering in the background]**

7:56 pm 12 Jun 2019 Twitter for iPhone

gg live fomo @brokenojoke

**“Thank you to the fans at the live show who are livetweeting, this ship has taken over my life”**

8:32 pm 12 Jun 2019 Twitter for Android

RED K STAN @pitchkeithstent

**“Oops my hand slipped”**

**[attached: fanart sketch depicting Shiro and Keith holding controllers, sitting next to each other and concentrating]**

8:59 pm 12 Jun 2019 Twitter web app

IT’S SHEITH @playgameseatass

**“SHIRO + KEITH = SHEITH”**

9:03 pm 12 Jun 2019 Twitter web app

KEIRO SQUAD @mistakecake

**“Keiro????”**

9:05 pm 12 Jun 2019 Twitter for Android

SCREAMS IN SHEITH @shiroisnotmydad

**“YALL I DID SOME DIGGING AND-”**

**[attached: screenshot of a follow checker confirming that @red_k and @ShiroGG follow each other]**

10:10 pm 12 Jun 2019 Twitter for android

matt has rights @sweetbabymay

**“🤔🤔🤔🤭🤭🤭”**

**[attached: fanart depicting Shiro holding Keith in a bridal carry, smiling wide as Keith blushes]**

11:14 pm 12 Jun 2019 Twitter web app

* * *

“What are you looking at?”

Shiro jolts so violently in surprise that his phone flies out of his hand and skitters across the floor.

“More porn?”

“Matt! Jesus!” Shiro yells at the evil smirk lurking over his shoulder. He had thought Matt was busy setting up a new computer elsewhere in the office, and with his back turned towards the door as he sat in the bean bag chair, Shiro hadn’t even heard the door open.

It didn’t help that his brain had been fully occupied since last night, engrossed in _Sheith_.

It started once he had gotten back to his apartment at the end of the night, exhausted but at the same time exhilarated by all that had happened. Their first live show. A sold-out crowd. So much love and support from all their fans.

And, last but certainly not least, a dream-come-true wearing a black leather jacket, windblown hair, and an unforgettable smile.

He had hoped beyond hope that Keith might just come to his show — that he had somehow gotten tickets before they sold out or had known he was on the guest list at Shiro’s insistence — but actually seeing him there of his own volition in the VIP line nearly took Shiro out on the spot. And Matt calling his seat up for the audience participation at the end… It still doesn’t feel real.

But clearly it was quite real, if Twitter is anything to go by. He ended up staying awake far into the night browsing through _Sheith_ , the apparent ship name for red_k and Shiro of GarrisonGames. Speculation, photo edits, even fanart, all depicting Shiro in a romantic, fairy tale-esque relationship with the man he’s had a crush on for the better part of a year. He had never considered it with any seriousness before, but faced with such a boisterous fan reaction, it’s hard not to see what they see.

It’s hard not to see it, and harder still not to love it.

He knows it’s intrinsically a bit awkward to “ship” two real people together; the strangeness isn’t lost on him, not by a long shot. But it takes such a different tone when he’s being shipped with his biggest crush in recent history. Especially after all that had happened at the show last night.

“You’re welcome, by the way,” Matt says, taking his place on the couch. Shiro snatches up his phone and puts it to sleep before Matt has the chance to see anything incriminating on it.

“For?”

“Yesterday. I didn’t even make fun of you a little for how much of a disaster you were around that guy.”

Shiro feels his ears heat up. “Very funny. I suppose it was your meddling that got him on stage too, huh?”

Matt just hums noncommittally, neither a yes nor a no. “You know you can DM him, right?”

Shiro blinks twice, processing. “What?”

“You two follow each other,” Matt says, matter-of-fact, “When you follow each other, you can send him a direct message.”

“He… I can…” His two remaining brain cells try and fail to create something of a coherent thought. The information his dear friend is being kind enough to supply is too much for him to comprehend. “What?”

Suddenly Shiro’s phone is snatched from his hands. He’s blindsided enough by it that he doesn’t even react, just watching Matt with the world’s biggest doe eyes. A moment later, the screen appears in front of his face, the glaring white of his god-forsaken day mode Twitter app nearly blinding him in the process. It shows Keith’s profile, with the little words _Follows you_ right next to his username.

Shiro blinks twice, and Matt points at the little envelope button, sitting next to the bell and _Following_ buttons. “This means you can direct message him.” His phone drops into his lap, and it jolts Shiro out of his reverie. “Do with this information what you will. You can thank me later for all the good things I’ve done for your love life.”

“Matt, come on, how do you even know that he—”

“I have eyes!” Matt throws his hands in the air, exasperated. “And a brain! Both of which saw you turn into an actual Paleolithic Neanderthal once you caught a single glance of this boy! Even _Lotor_ noticed!” Shiro opens his mouth to defend himself, but Matt isn’t finished. “Don’t even try. I know what I saw and it was _mutual attraction_. If I’m wrong, I won’t make you play a single horror game for the next year. On Katie’s life. On _my_ life. That’s how sure I am!”

Shiro can only stare, shocked at Matt’s conviction. He can’t really deny the part of him that believes it, that maybe Keith is somehow interested, but there’s an even bigger part of him that insists these are misinterpreted signals. But…

“…What do I even say?”

Matt shrugs and buries his nose in his phone, seemingly uninterested in actually helping Shiro not make a fool of himself in front of the hottest guy on Twitch. “Just whatever. Let the spirit move you.”

“Right…”

Shiro stares at the empty direct message screen for the better part of fifteen minutes, trying and failing to think of something cool and casual to send. Something to break the ice, but not too strong. Something to catch his attention, but not too much, just in case he’s not interested. Something captivating, but not embarrassing. It’s a tough line to tread.

The message box is still empty when one of their video editors rushes into the break room, panicking about some corrupted audio files. Shiro ends up busy for the rest of the day and into the evening, though his mind still works over what he might say.

He gets home after the gym that night and takes a long, luxurious shower. Once he’s dressed in pajamas, hair twisted up into a towel, he sits on the edge of his bed with his phone in hand, determined to _finally_ say something. Black hops up and nuzzles into his arm, purring to try and take his attention away from the phone and to her instead. But Shiro is a man on a mission. This direct message could make or break his possibility for a relationship with Keith. It has to be perfect.

_Hey_ , he types, then backspaces. _Hi!_ He tries again. Not good enough. Delete. _Hey man!_ Too eager. God, what is he thinking? Delete.

He somehow thinks it’s a good idea to type out _Hey, it’s Shiro!_ before he remembers that, duh, it’s his account. His name is right there. He’s about to erase that message too, but before he can hit the delete button, Black decides to paw at his phone to get his attention.

Directly on the send key.

There’s a momentary temptation to throw his phone on the floor, but he knows that won’t do anything to help. He also feels the impulse to delete the message entirely, though he’s not sure what that might accomplish. Instead, he freezes in place, gobsmacked by the fact that, without his own permission, he sent Keith a DM. He really, truly just sent Keith a DM.

And it was possibly the worst greeting he could come up with.

Shiro stares blankly at his phone for another minute while Black meows for attention. He raises his hand idly and Black rubs her face against it, until the little gray check mark turns to blue, and the typing bubble pops up at the bottom of his screen.

_i know_

Shiro doesn’t even get enough time to be mortified beyond repair before the next message pops up on his screen.

_:)_

That, apparently, is all it takes.

They spend the better part of the next week talking to each other on Twitter, about everything and nothing and all the little nuanced things that lay between. It surprises Shiro how easy it is to open up to Keith, and it surprises him even more how sincere and thoughtful Keith is in turn.

Shiro all-too candidly tells him about the accident that took his arm and shocked the front of his hair white, the distinct point in his life when he decided to pursue something he was passionate about before it was too late. In a fit, he had bleached the rest of his hair white, ordered a new computer, and called Matt, and that was the beginning of a career which ended up bringing him more joy than anything.

He reasons it’s probably something Keith already knows about, since they’ve made a few videos on the subject for awareness and charities, but it feels so much more raw to tell the story in this fashion. He doesn’t have to leave out the details, he doesn’t have to gloss over the depression and the exhaustion and the chronic pain that follows him even now. They talk about Black, and about physical therapy, and about all the things both big and small that have put Shiro on this path that he loves so dearly. He presents himself to Keith in a way he’s never shown anyone, with all the cracks and scars and details he can’t show on camera, and while it scares him somewhat, he truly feels that he can show Keith his most vulnerable parts and be heard and accepted.

Keith, in turn, graces him with the same raw honesty. Though he’s quite open on his stream when asked questions, he’s still largely an enigma to Shiro. He doesn’t have any draw my life videos or story time videos like Shiro, and the little bits he does share on his stream are hidden amidst hours and hours of content, a majority of which has been lost to time. But regardless, Shiro gets the story behind Kosmo, the dog he adopted to make his tiny apartment a little less empty, and the roommate to add even more life to the space. He gets the story behind Keith’s family, his friends, his passions. His start on Twitch had been more born of his love for gaming, with no intentions of making streaming into an actual career, though GarrisonGames played a large part in encouraging him to share that experience online instead of keeping it to himself. He had been in school before that, with intentions of becoming a pilot in one form or another. Something they shared in common.

Conversation topics between the two of them are not always so morose, though. There is plenty of discussion to be had about games, about snack foods, about their pets, about whatever came to their minds. Keith tells him about how happy he was when Shiro made his coming out videos, one on accident and another to confirm to the community because he knew how much it meant to his fans to have a strong, happy, _proud_ gay man to look up to. And it seems he hit his mark; Keith had been overjoyed to be able to come out to his fans as well, and not be alone in doing so. 

And all the while, Shiro finds himself falling deeper and deeper into an infatuation that can’t possibly be wished away. Not that he would want to, of course. But over time, the chemistry between the two of them turns out to be better than he could have hoped. Keith evolves from a guy who streams games and has an easy smile into someone Shiro can’t help but want in his life, in any way he can get.

Surprisingly, Matt made no mention of him or their constant conversation over the course of that week, though Shiro knew with keen certainty how badly he wanted to make fun of Shiro’s crush finally blooming into something more.

Until he couldn’t hold back any longer.

“Hey, Keith lives in California, right?” Matt asks one day after filming. The two of them had been brainstorming new video ideas for the better part of the last hour, mostly for their weekend content which tends not to be centered on video games. It had been almost productive, though it led Shiro down a rabbit hole of trying to find the running price for a real cursed broadsword.

The question piques Shiro’s attention enough to earn a raised eyebrow. “Yeah?”

“And you two still haven’t been on a date?”

Shiro fights a blush, averting his attention back to his monitor. “Shut up, we’re not even dating yet. We’re just talking.”

“Why don’t you invite him to do a collab?”

It’s the last thing he expects to hear from Matt, and it nearly knocks the wind from Shiro’s lungs.

“What? No— He’s a streamer, he wouldn’t—”

Matt just grins as Shiro cuts himself off, taking a moment to consider. It would be ideal, really. They both do gaming content and their fanbases overlap by a fair amount, if Twitter has anything to say about it. Though Keith doesn’t do many collaborations in general, and especially not on YouTube, it’d be a good bit of exposure for the both of them. And it doesn’t have to solely be a one-way collaboration; Shiro is no stranger to Twitch, with his monthly charity streams. It doesn’t take much for Shiro to realize that working with Keith would be a win on all fronts.

Not to mention Shiro’s more…selfish reasons.

“Think about it,” Matt says, watching the gears churn through the idea in Shiro’s brain. “Talk to him about it. We can carve out some time for him in the schedule. Maybe make a whole thing of it.”

Shiro looks away, opening a new tab and typing furiously on his computer.

“We’ll see.”

* * *

_Hey, you live near LA right? You should come by and record with us!_

Keith had gotten the message a few hours ago, in the middle of a stream. It had startled him into losing the boss fight, but that doesn’t matter. It’s _Shiro_ , asking about a _collab_.

It’s all he can do to not end the stream right there, to spend the rest of the night having a full mental breakdown about it. Instead, with great effort, he puts his phone to sleep and goes back to the task at hand, hoping beyond hope that the blush in his cheeks doesn’t show too prominently on stream.

He streams through the next few hours on autopilot, thankful that he chose a game that is so second-nature to play after so long, because his focus is almost entirely fixated on what the _hell_ he’s going to say to Shiro.

Of course he wants to. Of _course_. Even ignoring Keith’s monster crush on Shiro, he would be a fool to turn down such an offer purely considering the numbers perspective.

And, well, Keith’s monster crush on Shiro.

The thought crosses his mind to ask Pidge what she thinks, but he knows he’d never hear the end of it if he did. And on top of that, he already knows what Pidge would say.

Luckily, it’s also exactly what he wants to hear.

So, that night after his stream, they set the plans into motion. Keith gets the address to their office, they set a date and time, and then a backup in case something comes up. Shiro is surprisingly responsive for such a late hour, but Keith knows better than to question it. Shiro wants _him_ to do a video with them.

And so, after nearly half an hour of unsuccessfully trying to get the unruly back of his hair to maintain some semblance of order, he finds himself buzzing the front door to their office, nerves alight with anxiety and excitement. He can’t help but give himself a once-over in the reflective glass of their door, frowning at torn jeans and his nicest black t-shirt, the best outfit he could cobble together from his altogether uneventful closet without Pidge’s guidance.

The door opens and Shiro is standing on the other side of the threshold, looking as gorgeous as he had the night of the show. His smile threatens to blind Keith, and it’s all too natural to return with his own grin.

“Hey!”

“Hey, Shiro,” Keith says, wholly unprepared for how excited Shiro is to see him. If the days of heartfelt DM’s and sharing each others’ life stories wasn’t enough to convince him, he’s done in by Shiro’s cheerful energy alone. “It’s good to see you.”

“You too!”

Shiro’s about to walk forward for a hug, something Keith finds himself simultaneously wanting and wholly unprepared for, but Matt pops in from behind and waves.

“Keith! Come in!”

Shiro’s smile turns sheepish and the concept of a hug fizzles and dies on the spot, much to Keith’s dismay. Instead, he’s ushered in, through the few sets of doors and hallways that separate their front door from their studio as a whole.

The space is quite impressive, compared to the single room in Keith’s apartment dedicated to streaming. He gets the grand tour through their filming space, a big room with various game systems set up at desks or in front of couches, with filming equipment strewn throughout seemingly at random. A few people are setting something up at one of the desks as they pass through, waving towards them as they pass through on their tour.

He peeks through the window on the door to their editor’s room, where a few people with headphones are working at their desks, oblivious to their bosses as they pass. Beyond that room is another office with two desks, and when Shiro says it’s their office, Keith insists on entering to see for himself.

It’s almost immediately clear which desk is Shiro’s upon first glance. If not for the NASA mug and the cheesy _hang in there_ cat poster on the wall, it would have been entirely given away by how clean and orderly its surface is. In contrast, Matt’s desk is covered in empty cups and mugs, little knick knacks and toys, action figures and poseable models. There’s hardly anything on Shiro’s desk, other than his computer, the mug, and a little gundam figure perched on the corner.

But, the computer catches his eye. He glances towards it for a moment, just long enough to see a Twitch video pulled up on one of the monitors.

One of _Keith’s_ videos.

His brain feels like a toddler trying to fit a triangle into a square-shaped hole. It’s one thing to know Shiro at least follows him, but the concept of him _watching_ the stream is a whole different monster. Before he can even begin to unpack what that might mean, he’s ushered away to see the rest of the studio.

Next is their lounge, a room filled with a few bean bag chairs, a couch, a television, some computers, and a small fridge. All-in-all, everything Keith would want in a break room at work.

Shiro takes a seat in one of the better-loved bean bag chairs, and Keith sits in the one next to him. Matt sits at the desk and pulls something up on the computer as he speaks, “So what are we gonna play? I know you’re good at _Smash_ but as much as our viewers would love to see you dunk on us, I’d prefer my dignity stay intact.”

Keith laughs, his nervous energy easing itself somewhat. “No, we can do something else. I don’t, uh… Most of my content is unedited, so you guys probably know what games translate better through editing and uploading.”

Matt pulls up a list of games and starts scrolling through, shouting names at random to see if they stick. Shiro turns down most of them, and the ones he doesn’t turn down Matt turns down instead, until he mentions _Portal 2_.

“I never played that one,” Keith says, considering.

“Me neither,” Shiro agrees, and Matt gets a look on his face that Keith doesn’t know how to read. It reminds him of an expression Pidge would make, something devious that he couldn’t possibly understand.

“Well I’ve played it, so I’m out, but you two could play it together. It’s got co-op.”

Keith and Shiro share a look, before Keith shrugs and grins. “Sounds good to me.”

And so they make their way back to the massive filming space, Matt heading for one of the unoccupied computers and preparing things for the two of them.

Keith keeps searching for a good time to speak with him alone, to invite him to coffee or something equally date-ish, but with so many other people milling about it’s hard to find a good moment. He can’t help but notice, though, the fleeting glances Shiro casts his way. All he can do is hope Shiro doesn’t notice the glances he returns.

A woman with blonde hair introduced as Romelle brings them back to a separate room for hair and makeup, while Matt prepares the computers. Shiro doesn’t even need it, flawless as he already is, but Romelle insists on touching him up and styling his hair, somehow making him imperceptibly more attractive. The stylist is bubbly and talkative as she works, and Keith does his best to answer all her numerous questions and hold a conversation, but her light accent moves far too fast for him to keep up.

Though he has so far spent most of his time at Shiro’s side during his visit, there hasn’t been a chance to pull him aside or talk with just the two of them. Keith _hates_ it. He wants nothing more than to take Shiro by the hand and pull him far away from here, to the nearest cafe or park or anywhere but here doing work with so many other people around. But, he can be patient. He’s been patient thus far, anyways; what’s one more day?

But then Shiro gives him a warm smile and half of a shrug while Romelle talks about her _perilous_ work commute, and Keith feels his patience wane thin.

Eventually, with a bit of concealer to cover the darkness under his eyes and a gentle tousle to his hair, Keith is released with Shiro out to the recording space.

A camera points at one of the couches, the one that most of the crew and Matt are standing near. Someone waves them over and begins attaching a microphone to their shirts, while someone else tests various bright lights that blind Keith. It’s much more of a production than Keith has for his streams, which consists of his stationary desk microphone, his camera that rarely ever moves, and his computer. Even the makeup and hair are foreign to Keith, who hardly wears anything other than pajama pants when he streams.

They sit him down and test the microphones, and before he knows it, the cameras are rolling and Shiro is talking at them.

“Hey guys! Today I’m going to be playing _Portal 2_ , but since Matt has already played this, we have a special guest!” Shiro gestures at Keith, who’s shy as he waves at the camera. “This is Keith! The only other person on earth who also hasn’t played _Portal 2_.”

Keith laughs, and it’s simple as that.

They play the game through for an hour or two, and Keith quickly learns how different it is playing for a YouTube audience instead of one on Twitch. He normally uses the crutch of a live chat to keep the conversation going, but here he has to rely on the game and his own wit to make for interesting content. Shiro makes it easier, though, having done this sort of thing for years. It does something to Keith when he realizes how well they fit together, how easy it is to be around him, how easy it is to be _himself_. All insecurities about being here evaporate in light of Shiro’s smile and laugh and presence.

They get a break at the midway point, in the hopes that they’ll be able to finish it by the end of the day. After the crew untangles him from the microphone and busy themselves with other work elsewhere, Shiro and Keith are left _blessedly_ alone.

“You doing okay?” Shiro asks with a smile, “I know it’s probably different than streaming. You’re doing great, either way, y’know, just in case you were wondering.”

Keith laughs, waving off the praise in embarrassment. “It’s definitely different, but you being there helps a lot.” The words come out way more earnest than he means them to be. It’s almost reflex to be so sincere with each other at this point, but the tone it takes in real life is far different than their Twitter messages.

He opens his mouth to backtrack, but the flush across Shiro’s cheeks shuts him up.

“I was—”

“Hey, if you—”

They start talking simultaneously, and stop simultaneously. Keith’s ears and cheeks feel warm, mirroring Shiro’s.

“Go ahead—”

“What were you—”

They interrupt each other again, and this time Keith breaks out into a fit of giggles at the absurdity.

“You go first,” he says once he can catch his breath enough to speak. When he stands upright and takes in the look on Shiro’s face, his stomach flips.

He knew he had fallen hard, but not _this_ hard.

“I just wanted to know if you maybe, uh… Maybe we could get dinner? After this? Or maybe coffee sometime? A-As a date?”

Keith’s mouth hangs open, dumbstruck.

“That’s…” Words elude him. His mind is full of static. It isn’t until he sees Shiro start to panic that his brain reboots and starts working again, eager to clear the air. “That’s actually what I wanted to ask.” He smiles, chest full of something dangerously close to love as he watches Shiro’s face light up. “So, yes, to both.”

“Fucking _finally!_ ”

Apparently, they are not as alone as they had thought.

They both jolt and turn towards Matt, who starts applauding them. He’s the only one who stuck around, thank _goodness_ , so no one else has to be subjected to their shame. But Matt’s presence horrifies them enough that the entire crew may as well be there too.

“Matt! Jesus!”

He walks over and takes Keith’s hand in both of his. “Keith, you have my eternal gratitude. You have made me an incredibly wealthy man today.” Keith and Shiro look at each other with raised eyebrows, until Matt says, “Hmmm. I’m sure Lotor wants proof or he won’t pay up.” He lets go of Keith’s hand and pulls out his phone.

“Matt, what the fuck?” Shiro asks.

“Oh, we had a bet! Lotor said it’d take at least a month but I said less. So now he owes me fifty dollars.”

Keith sputters, “Fifty?!”

Matt finally looks up, grins at Keith, and it’s the same mischievous look that reminds him so much of Pidge. “That’s not even counting the twenty I bet with Katie.”

“You pulled your sister into this?!”

Matt shrugs, “Granted, she didn’t know anything about Keith beforehand. But I still won!”

Keith blinks, computing, and stands up straighter as the realization hits him like a freight train. “You have a sister?”

Matt nods noncommittally. “Yeah, Katie. Short, kind of looks like me? Same color hair, kinda messy? Big glasses— which were _mine_ that she _stole_.”

“You got contacts,” Shiro mumbles in a tired way that suggests he’s heard this a thousand thousand times.

“But what about when I’m not wearing contacts Shiro! What do I do then!”

They bicker while gears churn in Keith’s head. How could he have been so oblivious? How could he have missed something like this?

“Does… does she go by Pidge?”

Matt looks up with a start. “Yeah? Most of our family calls her Katie though… How did you know that?”

“She’s… That’s…” Keith feels the life drain from his body. He turns and presses his face into Shiro’s (muscular, handsome) shoulder, myriad realizations leaving him stunned and speechless.

“You know Katie?” Shiro asks, patting his shoulder in a gesture of comfort.

It takes a long few moments for Keith to respond.

“The whole time… _The whole time…_ ”

Somehow, by some bizarre twist of fate, Pidge and Keith have been roommates for years, and never once has the subject of Garrison Games came up. Keith knew she had a brother, but not that he was _the_ Matt from _the_ Garrison Games. Keith was similarly private about his love of the channel, with the live show as his one open mention of enjoying them, but it seems that had been a mistake on his part. He had no idea that he had this connection with Shiro, this whole time. Shiro and Keith missed each other by mere _inches_. Even if Shiro watched his channel, he had no idea that Katie’s nickname was Pidge. Every tiny detail lined up that kept them apart, when they could have been at least acquainted ages ago.

He will have some choice words for Pidge when he gets home.

Keith sighs, weary. “Pidge is my roommate.”

There’s a moment of dead silence as they process this new information.

It shatters when Matt starts laughing, pure gut-wrenching peals of howling laughter that have him on the floor within thirty seconds.

“Katie is… You just… She could have…” he wheezes his thoughts through barely-contained chuckles.

Shiro puts his arm around Keith’s shoulder, warm, and it soothes the exhaustion that has settled deep into his bones. He knows in his gut, in the light feeling in his chest, and in the glowing grin on Shiro’s face, that he could absolutely get used to this.

“Better late than never, huh?”

**Author's Note:**

> HE WAS A GAYMER BOI  
> HE SAID SEE U LATER BOI  
> WHEN WE GO ON A DATE TONIGHT
> 
> anyways i'm [@shoutzwastaken](http://twitter.com/shoutzwastaken) come yell about stuff so i can yell back


End file.
